Kicker for newspapers



May 14, 1963 J. A. RAUENBUEHLER I 3,089,394

KICKER FOR NEWSPAPERS Filed April 14, 1961 6 Sheets- Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

JOHN A. RAUENBUEHLER BY ATTORNEY y 14, 1963 I J. A. RAUENBUEHLER 3,089,394

KICKER FOR NEWSPAPERS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 14. 1961 INVENTOR. JOHN A- RAuEnBuEHLER ATTORNEY y 1963 J. A. RAUENBUEHLER 3,089,394

KICKER FOR NEWSPAPERS Filed April 14, 1961 v 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 dorm A. Raueneuamare ATTORNEY y 1.963 J. A. RAUENBUEHLER 3,089,394

KICKER FOR NEWSPAPERS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 14, 1961 INVENTOR. dorm ARAuaNBuEHLER By W ATTORNEY y 4, 1963 J. A. RAUENBUEHLER 3,089,394

KICKER FOR NEWSPAPERS Filed April 14, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 COUNTER 4-WAY PHRVALVE.

fi RETRACT EXHAU ST INVENTOR. Jou-m A. RAuENeuEHLER ATTORNEY "r. te States Pate t of Delaware Filed Apr. 14, 1961, Ser. No. 103,148 12 Claims. (Cl. 93-93) This invention relates to an improved apparatus for kicking out a counted newspaper which will be hereinafter referred to as a kicker system.

Newspapers and the like are carried in an overlapped relation on conveyors from the printing and folding machines to the counting stations. Kicker systems are used to periodically displace one of the newspapers on the conveyor to indicate a predetermined number of papers between each displaced paper. Counters of the type shown in Howdle et al. Patent No. 3,027,075, issued March (27, 1962, are used to actuate these kickers when the indicated newspaper reaches the kicker system. Where the newspapers are transported in an overlapped relation, the newspaper was subject to damage due to the kicking operation.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved kicker system that does not damage the newspaper during the kicking operation.

A further object is to provide an improved kicker system that is reliable in operation and requires a minimum of maintenance.

These objects are accomplished by a kick roller positioned on one of the newspapers in a stream of overlapped newspapers. A transverse motion is imparted to the roller to move the newspapers out of line with the stream of newspapers. The transverse motion of the kick roller is controlled by a double acting air cylinder having solenoid actuated air valves. A spring biased paper counter is used to count the newspapers and deliver a signal to a delay counter which determines the time interval for the counted newspapers to reach the kick roller. A second double acting air cylinder is used to raise and lower the kick roller with respect to the stream of newspapers. The cylinders are actuated in sequence by limit switches to kick, raise, return and lower the roller from a kick position back to a kick position. Thus, the newspapers in the stream are quickly divided into predetermined numbers for handling.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view of the conveyor and kicker assembly;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the roller arrangement;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the vertical movement arrangement;

FIGS. 4A-4B is a view of the horizontal and vertical movement structure;

FIG. 5 is a view taken on line 55 of FIG. 4 showing the vertical lift and spring pressure system;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the kick roller mounting assembly;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the kick roller actuating assembly;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the roller arrangement;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the roller arrangement; and

ice

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the pressurizing system.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the kicker unit is mounted on a conventional conveyor frame (not shown) for a standard newspaper wire belt conveyor 10. The drive for the kicker unit may be taken off of the conveyor or may be driven independently, whichever is more convenient. As seen in FIGS. 7 and 8, the newspapers are carried on the conveyor in an overlapped relation with the folded edge of the papers forward. A spring biased counter 12 which may be of the type shown in the Howdle et al. application is used to indicate a count paper and to deliver a signal to a delay timer 14 to energize a solenoid 16, which actuates one side of a double acting air cylinder 18 after the conveyor has moved far enough for the leading edge of the count paper to have moved to a position beneath kick roller 20. The actuation of the air cylinder will move the kick roller across the stream of papers, displacing the count paper. A support roller 22 is mounted on the fame immediately below the kick roller so that the count paper will be pinched between the two rollers.

A pinch roller 24 and a support roller 26 are positioned to engage the newspaper immediately preceding the count paper and a second pinch roller 28 and support roller 30 .are positioned to pinch the papers immediately following the trailing edge of the count paper to prevent any misalignment of these papers during the kick motion. Immediately after the count paper has been kicked out of line the kick roller is raised clear of the stream of newspapers by a second double acting air cylinder 32. The first air cylinder is then reversed and the kick roller moved back to a position above the conveyor. Air cylinder 32 is then reversed to drop the kick roller onto the conveyor.

The kick roller has a rubberized outer surface to provide sufiicient friction to move the papers out of line and is mounted on a shaft 34 which extends through bearing housings 36 and 38 with one end being secured to guide assembly 40 which is vertically movable on pin 42 secured to hearing bracket 44. The bearing bracket is horizontally movable on pins 46 and 48 secured to stationary bracket 50 which is secured to pipe 52 by U-bolts 54. The double acting air cylinder 18 18 secured to the stationary housing by pin 58 and to thebearing bracket by piston rod 60 and pin '62. Pressurizing one side of the air cylinder will move the bearing bracket away from the frame, pulling the kick roller across the stream of travel of the newspapers and pressurizing of the other side of the cylinder will move the kick roller back to the starting position.

A main frame member is shown in FIG. 4 connected to the stationary housing by pins 76. The air cylinder 32 is secured to the main frame by pin 77 d t arm 73 secured to vertical shafts 79 by pin 81. The vertical S i P ject upward through bearing brackets 80' in the stationary housing. Springs 82 are retained on the shaft by glands '83 and nut 84 and act against bearing housing guide 85 freely mounted on the shaft and collar 86 rigidly secured to the shaft. Pressurizing of air cylinder 32 will push the arm and shaft upward to raise the kick roller clear of the stream of papers. Reversing the pressure in the lift cylinder will drop the kick roller onto the conveyor.

The upward motion of the shaft 79 will cause collar 86 to lift bearing housing guide 85 and kick roller 20 on of the conveyor. Reversing of the pressure in the air cylinder will seat the collar on bearing bracket 80. Since guides 35 are free to move on the shaft, the kick roller will raise the guides off the collar when it is dropped onto the conveyor so that springs 82 bias the kick roller into engagement with the newspaper on the conveyor.

The kick roller is driven by V-belts 87 from drive shaft '88 which is driven off of support roller 30. The drive shaft is mounted on struts 90 which are pivoted on the axis of support roller 30. Spring 91 is connected to the frame to maintain belts 87 tight. The forward pinch roller is mounted on arms 92 which are pivoted on the axis of guide roller 93. Spring 94 is connected to the arm to bias the pinch roller against the support roller. The trailing edge pinch roller is mounted on the end of arms 95 which are pivoted on the axis of guide roller 96. Springs 97 provide a bias on the pinch roller against the support roller. The pinch roller is driven by wire belts 98 off of the guide roller 96. The wire belts on the kick roller and trailing edge pinch roller prevent the newspapers from jamming against the rollers, as well as providing the rotary motion for the rollers.

A pair of switch actuators 64 and 66 are carried by the bearing bracket and engage rollers 68 and 70 on limit switches 72 and 74. These limit switches are actuated by the motion of the bearing bracket to raise and lower the roller by pressurizing and depressurizing the double acting cylinder 32. A third switch actuator 19 is carried by arm 78 to engage roller 17 on limit switch 15 mounted on frame member 75. This limit switch is actuated by the upward motion of the roller to return the roller to a position over the conveyor. Switch 72 is closed by the kick motion of the roller to actuate solenoid 73 and pressurize one side of air cylinder 32 to raise the roller. The upward motion of arm 78 will actuate limit switch 15 to energize solenoid 13 and pressurize the other side of air cylinder 18 to return the roller to a position over the conveyor. The return motion of the roller will open switch 72 and close switch 74 depressurizing the one side of cylinder 32 and pressurizing the other side to move the roller downward into engagement with the conveyor. This cycle will be repeated each time a signal is transmitted from the delay timer to solenoid 16.

In operation, the kick roller is dropped onto the stream of newspapers by energizing solenoid 73 to pressurize air cylinder 32 and is driven at the same speed as the conveyor by the drive shaft and V-belts. The counter sends a signal to the delay timer when the paper to be displaced passes under the counter. The delay timer auto matically compensates for the time which it will take to move the leading edge of the indicated newspaper into engagement with the kicker roller. A signal is then transmitted to solenoid 16 to pressurize one side of cylinder 18, which pulls the kick roller across the stream of papers. Limit switch 74 will be thrown by the motion of the bearing bracket 44 and actuator 66, energizing solenoid 77 and reversing the pressure on the lift cylinder 32 to raise the kick roller otf the displaced paper. Limit 'switch 15 will be actuated by the upward motion of the arm 78, energizing solenoid 13 and reversing the direction of motion of the kicker roller so that it is returned to .a position above the stream of newspapers. The return motion of the kick roller and bearing bracket will open .switch 74 and close switch 72 to lower the kick roller .into engagement with the conveyor.

This arrangement provides a simple but positive means for displacing a single newspaper from the stream. The pinch rollers prevent any transverse motion from being transferred to the papers immediately preceding and trailing the displaced paper. By providing a contact surface across the full width of the newspaper, a positive motion will be imparted to the paper without any undue .twisting or tearing.

Although but a single embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. The combination with a conveyor carrying a number of substantially similar units in a line of fiow in an overlapped relation, of means for periodically displaclng one of said units comprising, kick means suspended above the conveyor, means biasing the kick means into engagement with the units on the conveyor, means for periodically moving the kick means transversely to the line of flow to displace one of the units on the conveyor, and means for lifting the kick means free of the conveyor after displacing the unit.

2. The combination according to claim 1, including means for maintaining the preceding and the following units in the line of flow when the unit is displaced.

3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein said moving means and said lifting means include double acting air cylinders for imparting reciprocal motions to the kick means.

4. The combination with a conveyor for handling substantially similar flexible units transported in a line of flow in an overlapped relation and a counting and timing device for indicating when a predetermined unit has passed under the counter, of means for periodically displacing said unit comprising, a roller suspended over said conveyor for horizontal and vertical motion, means biasing said roller into engagement with said units, moving means responsive to the signal from the counting and timing device for imparting a horizontal motion to said roller when the predetermined unit has been moved under the roller to displace the unit from the line of flow, lifting means actuated by the motion of the moving means to lift the roller from said unit, said moving means reversing the motion of the roller when the roller is free of the conveyor, and said lifting means being reversed to reengage the roller with the conveyor when the moving means has returned the roller to the position over the conveyor.

5. The combination according to claim 4, wherein the lifting means comprises a double acting air cylinder actuatetd by the horizontal motion of the roller to raise and lower the roller.

6. The combination according to claim 5, wherein said moving means comprises a double acting cylinder actuated by the counting and timing device to move the roller transversely to the line of flow to displace one of said units and reversed by the motion of the kick roller to return the roller to a position over the conveyor.

7. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said roller engages substantially the full width of the unit and is rubberized to impart maximum friction between the roller and unit.

8. The combination according to claim 7, including pinch roller means engaging the preceding and the immediately following units to prevent displacement of these units when the roller is moved to displace the predetermined unit.

9. The combination according to claim 8, wherein said roller and said following pinch roller means are driven at the same speed as the conveyor to prevent jamming of the units.

10. The combination with a conveyor for transporting newspapers in an overlapped line of flow and a counter and timing device for periodically signaling a predetermined number of newspapers, of means responsive to the signal from the counting and timing means for displacing the indicated newspapers comprising, a roller positioned to engage the newspapers, kick means for imparting a transverse motion to the roller when the indicated newspaper is under the roller, lift means responsive to the transverse motion of the roller for lifting the roller oil the newspaper, and switch means actuated at the end preceding the displaced newspaper and the newspapers following the displaced newspaper.

References flied in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Staude Sept. 20, 1938 Zernov Nov. 20, 1956 

1. THE COMBINATION WITH A CONVEYOR CARRYING A NUMBER OF SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR UNITS IN A LINE OF FLOW IN AN OVERLAPPED RELATION, OF MEANS FOR PERIODICALLY DISPLACING ONE OF SAID UNITS COMPRISING, KICK MEANS SUSPENDED ABOVE THE CONVEYOR, MEANS BIASING THE KICK MEANS INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH THE UNITS ON THE CONVEYOR, MEANS FOR PERIODICALLY MOVING THE KICK MEANS TRANSVERSELY TO THE LINE OF FLOW TO DISPLACE ONE OF THE UNITS ON THE CONVEYOR, AND MEANS FOR LIFTING THE KICK MEANS FREE OF THE CONVEYOR AFTER DISPLACING THE UNIT. 